It has been a about a year since our last post to the blog. It is amazing how time flies. Well, I will start by giving a quick overview of what we have been doing since the last post in March of 2010.

After leaving Slab City, CA we spent about 2 weeks in the San Diego area doing sightseeing and visiting Legoland with the kids. We then went to the desert to relax in the warm weather of Desert Hot Springs, CA. We stayed about 2 weeks there and visited Joshua Tree National Park for a couple days. We were happy to spent some time with the Valentine family during our stay. After leaving the Palm Springs area we drove to Williams, AZ which is one of the closest campgrounds to the Grand Canyon. We spent most of that time working but did make a quick visit over to the canyon for one day. We left Williams and then went to the Sedona, AZ area where we stayed for about two weeks visiting several state parks and National Monuments. We then left the Sedona area and went to stay on the rim of the Grand Canyon where we would be close to the canyon to do more sightseeing. We stayed on the rim of the canyon for about 4 nights.

While at the Grand Canyon we made the unexpected decision to head to Las Vegas to the National Hardware Show. So we headed towards Vegas making a stop first for a few days in Bullhead City, AZ. We then headed to Las Vegas crossing over the Hover Dam along the way. We stayed at the KOA campground at Circus Circus which is right on the strip. We had a great time at the Hardware Show and the kids had an even better time getting candy and free stuff from the vendors. As for Vegas itself, well, it is not a place for kids so we were pretty glad to leave as we felt the kids had seen enough “trash”.

We left Vegas and headed to St. George, UT to visit Zion National Park. While there we visited Zion NP for one day and then made the sudden decision that we needed to end our journey for a while. I believe Polly and I had both been thinking about it for a short while but one day we started talking and realized that the timing was right to end the journey for now. We knew that we would never be able to finish the rest of the US as we still had a lot left to do and see. We also knew that our business needed our attention and we needed to head back to be able to spend quality time with it. Also, unless you have ever traveled for a long time you may not realize just how tiring it is. We really just wanted to stay still for a while and rest with no planning to worry about. We then turned the motorhome east and drove for three and a half days from UT back to NC.

After being on the road for almost a year it was nice to get back home and slow down. We spent the next several months doing the basic stuff that most everyone else does. We have continued to home school the kids and they have been much more involved in our church youth programs. The problem is that once you have entered into the RV lifestyle it is really hard to leave it for very long. After a few months back we started to get the itch to leave again. We knew that Zachary, 12, was starting to get to the age that he would not want to go anywhere. We also never finished the North West part of the country.

Well, to make a long story short, we sat down as a family a few weeks ago and after we where done we had made the decision to start traveling again in June. Life is short and while it is easy to live life doing the same thing everyday it just isn’t for us. We are not promised tomorrow and retirement may never come. Our kids are getting older and the memories we are creating will last forever. So the end of May we are taking my mom to the beach and as soon as we get back we are heading west to try and complete the US. We are leaving our return date completely open so we are not rushed and will simply come back when we either get tired or complete everything. We learned a lot from the last time and hope to use that knowledge to make this journey even more enjoyable.

We will try to blog about our travels and would love to hear from all our friends. If you are currently on the road or even considering it we look forward in hearing from you.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 4th, 2011 at 10:14 pm and is filed under Everyday Living. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Godwin Family …. it is delightful to get an update on your plans. God bless you all as you continue to see this beautiful country we call home. Michael and I have seen most of the US, detailing the great southwest. It is wonderful that you chose to do this while your sons are young enough to enjoy it as much as you and Polly. Be safe and again, blessings to you all.